The Star of Darkness Engulfs the Heavens!
Time Evolves Beyond The Deathmatch!!

At Souther's pyramid, a guard hears something behind him. He turns around and realizes it's the Fist King, but then gets stomped on.

Raoh has arrived, as he and a couple of guards look at the pyramid. Raoh knows of Souther, and also knows that he is the greatest master of the South Star holy fist.

One of the guards says Souther already has many cities under his control, and his Holy Cross mausoleum is almost complete. The other guard says that the way Souther is using obedient child labor is typical of him. At the pyramid, the children continue to work...

...and get whipped if they don't. Raoh says that for now, he must recover from the injuries he got from his fight with Kenshiro. But he says he will return here, so Souther should run freely whilst he still can. At the pyramid, the children are told to put in more effort, as if they don't, they'll get thrown out into the desert.

Everyone then hears a vehicle approaching, and see that Lord Souther has arrived. Souther gets out but says nothing, and instead looks at the pyramid.

Elsewhere, Bat and Lin are taking a break in a small cave. Bat tells Lin that she should eat, and she shouldn't worry -he's heard a rumor Ken was seen in a nearby town. Pel then suddenly starts growling at something.

Bat goes to look, but then has a sword thrown in front of him. Two of Souther's soldiers have found them, and they think these kids should put a smile on the Holy Emperor's face. Bat tells Lin not to worry, as he'll protect her.

This causes one of the soldiers to laugh, mocking Bat for what he just said. The other guy gets right in Bat's face, and asks "Lord Knight" how he plans on protecting Lin. Bat hits him in the face.

He tells the solder not to mess with him, Lord Bat! But the other guy goes to attack Bat with a sword. Before he can, he suddenly stops...

...and is sliced apart. The other soldier meets the same fate, as Bat and Lin see that someone else has arrived.

Elsewhere, Kenshiro walks through a desert. He sees a small village and enters it, but there doesn't seem to be anyone around. He eventually sees a young girl playing with a ball.

She drops the ball, and it rolls towards Kenshiro. She hesitates to get it back when she sees Kenshiro, but Kenshiro picks it up. He's going to give it back to her, but then some men appear.

One of them takes the girl away, as the others ask Kenshiro if he's here to steal children. Kenshiro asks them what this is all about, but the villagers say they'll protect the children, even if it costs them their lives.

One of them tries to attack Kenshiro with a mallet, but Kenshiro hits his hand, causing him to drop his weapon. The village elder then appears, and tells the villagers to stop. He tells them that Kenshiro is clearly no thug, and asks Kenshiro to excuse their behavior.

He explains that everyone here is on edge, due to the outlaws who have been taking children. Some of the villagers say that their own kids have been taken away, all because of the Holy Emperor, Souther. The elder says that Souther is taking children, and making them work on his Holy Cross mausoleum. It's believed that Souther said anyone who brings him a child, will get to become a part of his holy forces. Kenshiro is not happy to learn even innocent children are being abused by Souther.

Elsewhere, a guy on a bike comes to a stop. He thinks he saw a kid around here, and sees a small house nearby. He sees someone moving inside it, so he goes to investigate. He kicks down the door.

Inside, he finds a woman seemingly by herself. The guy thinks she has a kid here, but she claims she doesn't. He says he saw a kid around here, and smacks her out of the way. He opens up a box, and finds her son, Taka, inside.

She tries to stop him, but she gets smacked back again. The man leaves with Taka, and she hopes that her son can forgive her. If she didn't sacrifice him, the other children would have been caught.

She moves the box aside, revealing some other kids hiding beneath it. As they get out, another man suddenly appears, and says there are five kids here... surely that'll get him into the holy forces.

He drops down, and says that hyenas never travel alone. He kicks the woman out of the way, and gabs the children. He thinks he'll definitely be allowed to join the Holy Emperor's forces, so he'll be set for life.

He starts to leave, but as he heads outside, he bumps into Kenshiro. He wonders what the hell his problem is, but Kenshiro just asks him to let the children go, and then leave. The guy says that if he wants the kids too, he should have just said so!

He wants to split them, but Kenshiro says he'll be taking them all. The guy says he found them first! Kenshiro maintains he'll be taking them all, so the guy drops the kids, and pulls out a shotgun. Before he can fire it, Kenshiro smacks the gun out of his hand, then punches him in the face.

Kenshiro picks up the gun and points it at him, but doesn't fire. Instead, he drops the gun and starts to walk away. The guy grabs it and says he'll kill him, but Kenshiro says it's useless -he's already dead.

The guy's head then explodes. The woman and the children are in fear of Kenshiro, but he tells Taka he can come out now. Taka pops up from behind a rock.

He is reunited with his mother, and explains that Kenshiro is the one who saved him. Kenshiro tells them that this area is dangerous, and they should flee. But then some of Souther's soldiers arrive. The captain of the group believes they've found Kenshiro.

Kenshiro beckons the others to move away. The captain tells Kenshiro that if he resists, they'll kill him. Kenshiro warns them that arrows will do nothing to him, and if they don't want to die, they should get lost.

The soldiers threaten to skewer him, but they then hear someone whistling. Suddenly hundreds of arrows are fired, which kill nearly all of the soldiers.

The captain is the only one left, and sees a few men behind him. One of them leaps down and slices the captain to pieces.

Kenshiro immediately recognizes the man's technique as a South Star holy fist style. The man asks Kenshiro if he's the North Star divine fist successor. Kenshiro looks at his eyes, and asks him if he is blind. The man says his name is Shu, of the South Star white heron fist. He's one of the South Star six holy fists, and is following his star's destiny as they fall into this chaotic era. He says he's heard a lot about Kenshiro, and wants to take him on.

He attacks with a mace, but Kenshiro destroys it. Shu says that he guesses child's tricks won't work on him.

Kenshiro wonders if Shu is like Raoh and Souther, but he seems different somehow. Shu says that as the South Star is in disarray, the North Star appears. When the six stars drifted apart, they were destined to fight. Kenshiro warns that any who seek to defeat him will end up meeting his fists.

Shu says he will engrave the terror of his art upon Kenshiro's body. He goes into a stance, one that Kenshiro seems to recognize:

NANTO HAKUROU KEN OUGI:
YUUGEN SHOU

(South Star White Heron Fist Secret Technique:
Alluring Illusion Palm)

Shu seems to disappear, leaving only several hand illusions, which spin around Kenshiro. Shu says that whilst his eyes can't see, his heart does. He has no fear of Kenshiro's art, as fear creates one's presence, allowing the enemy to close in. Shu then suddenly attacks, but Kenshiro is able to sense him in time, and stops his strike from hitting him.

Shu laughs, and says he dodged that quite well. Kenshiro goes to punch him, but Shu avoids it with a backflip, which slices into Kenshiro's chest.

Shu then attacks with another technique called rek kyaku kubu (Raging Aerial Kick Wave). Kenshiro avoids some of these strikes, but then blocks one of them with a kick of his own. Shu congratulates Kenshiro on being the first person to ever survive against his moves, but wonders how long can he keep this up for.

Kenshiro says he won't die, for the sake of the friend to whom he swore too. He recalls what Rei told him: he must not die. In this chaotic era, the world needs his North Star divine fist to turn tears into smiles. Kenshiro says that he'll swear it again -he'll live through this era, and bring light back to the century's end.

Shu says the light won't return unless he defeats him. Kenshiro tells him he has no idea why the North Star divine fist has a sole successor, and is the strongest of all the martial arts -something he'll teach him now. He then uses Yuda's technique, the tradition-defying rending wave.

Shu gets hit by it, and knows that it's a South Star crimson crane fist technique. Kenshiro says this is one of his own style's secret techniques: suieishin (water reflection spirit). This technique allows him to absorb the techniques of those fought.

Kenshiro then uses the rending wave technique again, and tells Shu that the sound of the Earth caving in on him must be terrifying. He tells Shu that he won't be able to close in on him now. One of Shu's men is about to fire an arrow at Kenshiro, but another guy stops him. He says that this is what Lord Shu chose to do, and they must not interfere.

Kenshiro gets behind Shu. She realizes he's there and turns around, but Kenshiro punches him. As Shu falls, Kenshiro goes to finish him off, but his strike stops short. Shu asks him why he's not going to end it.

Kenshiro asks him why none of his techniques had any intent to kill. Bat and Lin then run over, and Lin asks Ken to stop fighting with Shu. She says that Shu saved her and Bat. Bat says that Shu isn't evil at all.

Shu says that Kenshiro is strong, and now knows why Rei sided with him. He says he wanted to see Kenshiro's power, and he had to risk his own life to do that. Kenshiro helps him up. Shu says that he is Rei's friend, and is the star of benevolence. He has been waiting for Kenshiro's arrival -he's the only man who can defeat the Holy Emperor, Souther!

NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW

Shu, of the star of benevolence! His fate was sealed the day he met Kenshiro! Next time, on Fist of the North Star: "Shuu of the South Star White Heron Fist! What do you See at the End of this Century!!"

Kenshiro: The rage of the tempest is calling me.